Processor based electronics have proliferated into virtually all types of consumer electronics devices. Many such devices are necessarily portable, so battery life performance becomes an important brand distinguishing value. To conserve power, many devices are equipped with circuitry that changes between various different power modes.
Typically, a device switches between different power modes based on what resources are necessary to sustain usage of the device. For example, circuitry that functions only to communicate externally, such as for transferring data with an external device, may actually only seldom be utilized. Powering that circuitry all the time would waste battery power, and hence needlessly reduce the effective life of the battery for portable operation of the device.
Consideration must also be paid to ensure that short-cycling penalties are not created when switching between power modes. Some power-intensive circuits and some components, such as motors, can actually consume more power in turning them off for only a short time and then restarting them, in comparison to just leaving them on.
The market has and will continue to demand even more powerful electronics that are available for longer portable sessions running on battery power. It is to improvements in the art of power conservation that the present embodiments are so directed.